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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29589816">The Space You Left Behind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neneko/pseuds/Neneko'>Neneko</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It's Raining Sparrows [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Except he's not dead in this one, Gen, I'm still salty about the way Diego treated Klaus in S2 so I'm going to ignore that part, Just Klaus' reaction to Ben 2.0, Post-Season/Series 02, Season/Series 02 Spoilers, Short One Shot, no beta we die like ben</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:00:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>332</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29589816</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neneko/pseuds/Neneko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Klaus wants to scream, but he seems unable to find his voice -so he keeps staring, mouth agape, searching for similarities and finding all the differences instead. This Ben is not his own, he's not </em>his<em> at all. No thread connects them; there's no recognition on his face, nothing at all.</em></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Hargreeves &amp; Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves &amp; Klaus Hargreeves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It's Raining Sparrows [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2289104</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Space You Left Behind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Klaus wants to scream, but he seems unable to find his voice -so he keeps staring, mouth agape, searching for similarities and finding all the differences instead. This Ben is not his own, he's not <em>his</em> at all. No thread connects them; there's no recognition on his face, nothing at all.</p><p>No, that's not true.</p><p>There's <em>something</em> he can feel inside his chest, right where Ben carved a space for himself: a gaping void that burns like hell, hurting him so bad Klaus's surprised he's not bleeding out on the polished floor. It physically pains him to see this stranger wear his brother's face, but he couldn't have survived this long without learning how to take a punch, couldn't he?</p><p>So Klaus puts up a front, he laughs and mocks, sarcasm thick on his tongue while he tries not to succumb to despair. He reaches for the other one who has always been there, 'cause it's what you do when you lose a part of yourself. You keep the others closer and hope they'll not leave you, too.</p><p>"Hah, Diego, can you believe it? And <em>he</em> was the one calling you emo back in the days--"</p><p>Except Diego is failing to find the fun of it, at least according to the way his lip's trembling. The rest of his face screams murder, just like Five's. Vanya sniffles, hands on her pale face, and the air around her starts to warp and ripple. Allison's mouth is a thin line, ready to go, and then there's Luther, looking like the biggest kicked puppy he's ever seen... and Klaus, well, he's starting to feel really pissed off.</p><p>
  <em>How dare you?</em>
</p><p>He's always been slow to anger, but right now he's bursting with <em>rage</em>. He looks Reginald dead in the eyes, the monocle glinting menacingly above the scowl he's become very intimate with in his worst years, and all he can think is <em>I'm gonna kill you, you fucking bastard.</em></p><p>Then he moves, and chaos ensues.</p>
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